Auto or Manual Focus

Manaul or Auto

  • Manual

    Votes: 11 19.3%

  • Auto

    Votes: 46 80.7%
  • Total voters
    57
T

tc4

Messages
171
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Does anyone here prefer MF over AF?
I recently started manually focussing and results are more accurate than AF.
Zooming in 10x on the LCD viewfinder ensures what you want is in focus.
 
Manual when its not time critical i.e. landscapes or macro, otherwise AF beats me pretty much every other time.
 
find that auto works for me, careful use of focus point choice is crucial as camera does not know which part of the frame you want in focus. manual for macro, but thats probably obvious!
 
Depends what you shoot I guess. There's times when either one is the better choice
 
Auto most of the time but manual on occasion.
 
With my eyesight, I rely heavily on AF.
 
I find that my dslr viewfinders are not as suited to manual as the old 35mm cameras that I had way back
 
I use both and it depends on the situation. With macro on the AFS105 f2.8G you HAVE to switch to manual as you get closer for example and with film several of my lenses do not have AF.
 
The viewfinder on my 50D is useless for manual focusing so I tend to AF pretty much all the time unless I'm using one of my finer MF lenses, but even then I have to stop down to f/5.6 to have any hope of getting any of my shots properly in focus. The viewfinder on my Konica FC-1 is huuuuge and everything seems to 'pop' into place when manual focusing and it's so much nicer to use with old lenses.
 
Nuffles said:
The viewfinder on my 50D is useless for manual focusing so I tend to AF pretty much all the time unless I'm using one of my finer MF lenses, but even then I have to stop down to f/5.6 to have any hope of getting any of my shots properly in focus. The viewfinder on my Konica FC-1 is huuuuge and everything seems to 'pop' into place when manual focusing and it's so much nicer to use with old lenses.
Click to expand...

Really? I tend not to have an issue, plus you've got live view with zoom for accurate focus. Dending on the focus points setup you use you can still use the focus point to assist with manual focus.
 
Byker28i said:
Really? I tend not to have an issue, plus you've got live view with zoom for accurate focus. Dending on the focus points setup you use you can still use the focus point to assist with manual focus.
Click to expand...

I don't use AF confirm chips in my adapters, I have done in the past but I didn't find them helpful. The viewfinder in cropped Canons is (I believe) only sensitive to f/4 or f/5.6 meaning any lens with a depth of field narrower than this is impossible to manual focus properly when opened up. This certainly reflects the results I get, and also it becoming a million times easier when going into live view and the focus 'popping' in. I vastly prefer using the viewfinder unless doing still life/macro work, but almost all my work is street/snaps of friends plus some studio work at college. I'm hoping to upgrade to a 5Dmk11/111 when it comes out in the future to manual focus lenses will be much easier to use then.
 
Definitely manual focus as I hate having anything "auto" enabled on the camera.

The D700 has quite a good viewfinder so manual focus is not too difficult, but it was more challenging on my old D70s.
 
Nuffles said:
I don't use AF confirm chips in my adapters, I have done in the past but I didn't find them helpful. The viewfinder in cropped Canons is (I believe) only sensitive to f/4 or f/5.6 meaning any lens with a depth of field narrower than this is impossible to manual focus properly when opened up. This certainly reflects the results I get, and also it becoming a million times easier when going into live view and the focus 'popping' in. I vastly prefer using the viewfinder unless doing still life/macro work, but almost all my work is street/snaps of friends plus some studio work at college. I'm hoping to upgrade to a 5Dmk11/111 when it comes out in the future to manual focus lenses will be much easier to use then.
Click to expand...

Do you know you can swap focussing screen on the 50D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szFOsQ4pGWo
 
My eyes are not as good as they used to be, so AF. Use the center FP, lock and re-frame, click! Modern V/Finder's dont seem as good as the old manual focus screens that used to have that central ring that 'clicked' into sharp focus! . . . thats progress :shrug:

CJS
 
I tend to use auto foucs most of the time, but will manual focus when I need to. I haven't found a problem manual focussing using my 40D using the viewfinder (unless I am wearing my glasses), I actually find it easier than using my Grandads old SLR's and 35mm cameras with split prisms.
 
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